THIS WEEKEND In
his third decade as a superproducer, Jerry Bruckheimer continued to give
moviegoers exactly what they crave by opening his latest action hit, the
cop buddy sequel Bad Boys II, at the
top of the charts while his blockbuster adventure film Pirates
of the Caribbean ranked second displaying tremendous strength
in its second weekend. Together, the two Bruckheimer pics sold over $80M
worth of tickets at North American theaters accounting for more than half
of the entire marketplace.

Audiences lined up to see Martin Lawrence and Will Smith reunite in
Bad Boys II which debuted with $46.5M,
according to final studio figures,
to lead all films at the box office. Directed by Michael Bay, the Sony
release bowed in 3,186 theaters and averaged an explosive $14,602 per location.
With bullets and expletives flying, Bad Boys II
wore its R rating proud telling the story of a pair of narcotics
cops in Miami trying to bust the city's biggest dealer of Ecstacy. Gabrielle
Union and Joe Pantoliano co-star. It was the third R-rated action sequel
this summer to open at number one after The Matrix
Reloaded and Terminator 3.

The opening for the pricey sequel tripled the $15.5M bow of the first
Bad Boys which opened in April 1995
in a thousand less theaters. That film went on to gross $65.8M and over
$140M worldwide. The sequel skewed younger as 59% of the audience was under
the age of 25 while males and females were about equally represented, according
to studio research. African Americans came out in strong numbers representing
35% of the crowd.

For Sony, Bad Boys II became its
industry-leading fifth number-one debut of the year giving the studio an
edge over Warner Bros., Fox, and Disney which have each had four. The Mouse
House, however, continues to lead in total weekends in the top spot with
seven compared to Sony's six. For Bruckheimer, Bad
Boys II became his third number-one of the year following last
week's Pirates and January's Kangaroo
Jack. Next up for the producer is October's thriller Veronica
Guerin from director Joel Schumacher and King
Arthur which is preparing for a Christmas 2004 release.

Generating the smallest second weekend decline of any wide release this
summer, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean
slipped just 27% and grossed $34M for second place. The Disney adventure
film crossed the $100M mark on Friday, its tenth day of release, and has
collected a mighty $133M in only twelve days. Playing in 3,359 theaters,
the Johnny Depp actioner averaged a potent $10,132 per venue.

The remarkable staying power due to strong word-of-mouth allowed Pirates
to buck the trend this summer of massive dropoffs suffered by top titles
and should allow it to become one of the year's highest-grossing films.
Produced for an estimated $130M, the Gore Verbinski-directed blockbuster
could find its way to a domestic haul of $250-275M giving The
Matrix Reloaded a serious challenge for the summer's silver
medal. Pirates also helped Buena Vista
become the first distributor this year to surpass $900M in year-to-date
box office with the billion dollar barrier looking to fall before the summer
ends.

Falling a steep 56% in its second weekend, Fox's action adventure film
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
took in $10.2M in its sophomore session and lifted its ten-day cume to
$42.5M. With a production cost of just under $80M, the Sean Connery vehicle
should finish its domestic run with $65-70M with an international run that
could bring in somewhat more. League
became the tenth summer film to drop by more than 55% in its second weekend
illustrating how little staying power there is in this season's crop of
offerings. It is double the amount from this time last summer.

T3 dropped 52% and claimed fourth
place with $9.3M in its third weekend. After 19 days of release, the Warner
Bros. sci-fi sequel has amassed $127.9M and should find its way to the
vicinity of $150M. By comparison, its predecessor T2
grossed $204.8M in 1991 becoming the top-grossing film of that year.

Opening in fifth place was Universal's British import Johnny
English starring Rowan Atkinson which grossed $9.1M from 2,236
theaters. The PG-rated comedy averaged a good $4,085 per location and followed
a successful international release that has already brought in over $117M.
Budgeted at $35M, English finds the
comedian playing a bumbling secret agent.

Enjoying the smallest decline in the top ten and swimming into triple-century
territory, the Disney/Pixar sensation Finding
Nemo collected $7.3M in its eighth weekend slipping just 14%.
The G-rated toon boosted its cume to an eye-popping $303.8M and is on course
for at least $330M in domestic coin.

MGM's Legally Blonde 2 dropped 49%
to $6.1M in its third frame and placed seventh. Reese Witherspoon's signature
sequel has taken in $75.5M to date and should conclude its run with around
$90M or a bit shy of the $96.4M that the first Legally
Blonde charmed up two summers ago.

Teen girls were not exactly rushing to the multiplexes to see Mandy
Moore's new film How to Deal which
opened with a disappointing $5.8M. Released by New Line, the PG-13 pic
about a high school girl who gives up on love averaged a poor $2,505 from
2,319 theaters. The melodrama was produced for $16M.

Another femme flick was nestled into ninth place. Charlie's
Angels: Full Throttle fell 47% to $3.8M pushing its total to
$89.2M. The Sony sequel looks to finish with around $100M, or 20% less
than the $125.3M of 2000's first Charlie's Angels.

Fox Searchlight rounded out the top ten with the horror hit 28
Days Later which grossed $2.5M, off 40%, for a cume of $33.4M.
The distributor is making the unorthodox move of adding a four-and-a-half-minute
alternate ending to its prints this Friday hoping to bring fans back for
another scare. A final gross of $40-45M should result depending on how
successful this technique is. On the following weekend, Searchlight will
take its independent smash Bend It Like Beckham
into full national release widening to about 1,200 locations. This weekend,
the British-Indian comedy grossed $304,874 from 156 theaters for a $1,954
average in its 19th weekend and pushed its overall gross to a rosy $25.9M.

Elsewhere in limited release, Miramax opened the London-set crime thriller
Dirty Pretty Things in five theaters
in New York and Los Angeles and grossed $101,512 for a stellar $20,102
average. Starring Amelie's Audrey Tautou,
the R-rated drama expands on August 1.

Paramount Classics grossed $102,890 after expanding the James Woods
drama Northfork from 5 to 14 theaters.
Averaging $7,349, the PG-13 film has taken in $191,674 to date and will
continue to slowly add more markets.

Disney offered sneak previews on Friday in just under 1,000 theaters
for its family comedy Freaky Friday
starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. The studio reported that most
shows were near capacity or sold out with 90% of those polled calling the
PG-rated pic "excellent" or "very good". The audience
for the mother-daughter switcheroo film was understandably more female
(69%) with two-thirds being familes. Freaky Friday
opens on Wednesday, August 6 and will face Sony's male-skewing actioner
S.W.A.T. that weekend.

Three summer films fell from the top ten over the weekend. Sinbad:
Legend of the Seven Seas tumbled 56% in its third weekend to
$1.9M bringing the total for the animated adventure to $23.4M. Budgeted
at $60M, the DreamWorks title should finish with a dismal $26-28M. Making
off with $1.7M, but sliding only 37%, was Paramount's hit actioner The
Italian Job. The $65M film looks to conclude with an encouraging
$97-100M.

Universal's $137M comic book gamble The Hulk
fell 58% to $1.5M in its fifth outing for a $128.1M sum. The Ang Lee film
has fallen by more than 55% each weekend and is likely to end its domestic
run with $130-132M. Overseas, the green giant has punched up $71M for a
worldwide haul of just under $200M.

The top ten films grossed $134.7M which was up 43% from last year when
Road to Perdition climbed into the
number-one spot with $15.4M; and up just 3% from 2001 when Jurassic
Park III opened in the top spot with $50.8M.

Compared to projections, Bad Boys II
opened stronger than my $36M forecast while Johnny
English debuted very close to my $8M prediction. How
to Deal bowed below my $9M projection.

Take this week's NEW Reader
Survey on Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle
of Life. In last week's survey, readers were asked if they felt
there were too many sequels this summer. Of 3,417 responses, 75% said Yes
while 25% thought No.

This column is updated three times each week:
Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.

Last Updated : July
21, 2003 at 6:00PM EDT

Written by Gitesh Pandya

Gitesh Pandya can be seen each Friday on "The
Biz" airing at 12:30pm and 9:30pm ET on CNNfn.